Former shelter dog credited with saving 3-year-old girl

by Sarah Roebuck, WPBN/WGTU

Peanut. (Delta Animal Shelter)

DELTA, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) - A former shelter dog is now being credited with saving the life of a 3-year-old girl.

Petunia, now named Peanut, arrived at the Delta Animal Shelter in April 2016 with two broken legs, a belly full of carpet and broken ribs. The shelter says the injuries all happened at different times.

The shelter says Peanut is now healed and her former owner was recently convicted of animal abuse.

Peanut now has a new chance at life and is being credited with saving a 3-year-old girl's life.

According to the Delta County Sheriff's Office, the 3-year-old girl was found lying naked in a ditch on Friday around 11:15 a.m. in the Rapid River area. The temperature at the time was around 32 degrees.

Deputies say a man's dog, identified as Peanut, noticed the child in the ditch. The man then found the girl and wrapped her in his shirt and rushed her back to his house in an attempt to warm the child.

Deputies say the uninjured girl was transported to St. Francis Hospital by U.P. Health Systems.

We're told deputies went door to door in an attempt to find the girl's parents. The parents were eventually located at a nearby house.

Further investigation found unsafe and unsanitary living conditions at the house, deputies say.

Deputies say Child Protective Services was contacted and the 3-year-old girl along with another young girl were removed from the house.

The case has been sent to the Delta County Prosecutor's Office for review.

Here's the story the shelter posted:

Dear Shelter,

I must share a heartfelt story about how wonderful our little Peanut has been! She has truly been a blessing to our family and we love having her around. As you know, her background was so heartbreaking and we are so happy that we were able to take her into our home and give her the love and the family she deserves. However, I think she still has some “sixth sense” about her past life that she has carried with her.

Today, Peanut was responsible for saving the life of a 3 year old little girl. About 11am this morning, Peanut started going crazy at our house. She was running up and down the stairs, barking and yelping. She then went and got my husband, who was in the garage working on some projects, and alerted him that she wanted to go outside. He said he could hear her running around upstairs but didn’t understand why. He let her outside where she went barreling into the field behind our house at full speed. My husband followed her and to his surprise, he found a naked, shivering, 3 year old girl curled up in a ball. He scooped her up, wrapped her in his sweatshirt, and brought her inside. He called 911 and reported the incident. By the time the ambulance and police arrived, the little girl could only say one thing – “doggie.”

Thanks to Peanut, a little girls life was saved today. She has been such a blessing to us, and now to others. Words cannot express how grateful we are that we have Peanut in our lives and how amazing she is. She is a part of our family now and thanks to wonderful people like you at the shelter, she is alive. Without her, not only would she have been gone from this world, but the life of this little girl might have been taken as well.